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Flavia and Colonel Sullivan, Flavia and Payton, Payton and Colonel Sullivan each of these conjunctions had for him a separate menace; each threatened either his suit for Flavia, or his standing in the house through which, and through which alone, he could hope to win her. In addition, the absence of James McMurrough at this critical moment left Asgill in the most painful perplexity.
The sight, thus unforeseen, struck Asgill with the force of a bullet. Colonel John released, and in the company of Flavia and Payton! All his craft, all his coolness forsook him. He slunk out of sight by a back way, but not before Payton had marked his retreat.
"It is, but I'll have my man and go to bed," Payton answered, with true British obstinacy. "No offence to any gentleman." "There's none will take it here," Asgill answered. "An Irishman's house is his guest's castle." But, knowing that Payton liked his glass, he wondered; until it occurred to him that the other wished to have his hand steady for the sword-play next day. He meant to stay, then!
Payton laughed brutally. "Why, by the powers, you are a preacher!" he retorted. "Hang your duty, sir, and you for a craven! Give me acts, not words! It's a man's duty to defend his honour, and you talk of your neckcloth! There's for a new neckcloth!" He pulled out a half-crown and flung it, with an insulting gesture, upon the table.
To add to his alarm, Payton, whose mind was secretly occupied with the Colonel, sought to evince his indifference by changing the subject, and in doing so, hit on one singularly unfortunate. "A pretty fair piece of water," he said, rising with an affected yawn, and pointing over the lake with his riding-switch. "The tower at the head of it it's grown too dark to see it is it inhabited?"
How nip in the bud that nascent sympathy, that feeling for him which Flavia's outbreak the night before had suggested? Or how, short of all this, was he to face either Payton or the Colonel? Again a volley of oaths flew from him. In council with James McMurrough he might have arranged a plan of action; at least, he would have learned from him what Payton knew. But James's absence ruined all.
Corse Payton is going to make his summer home out there, and if he is within a radius of ten miles I know we are slated for the one grand time. He is so full of Iowa gallantry that he wouldn't let even a dog go by without offering it a highball. He's just that soft hearted. He's got a young hotel out there and the bars are down for any of his friends.
But the Colonel's eye and manner had had their effect, and "Let him speak!" the sallow man said. "And you, Payton, have done with your fooling, will you?" "Well, hear to him!" "I have been in many camps and many companies, gentlemen," the Colonel resumed, "and those of many nations.
If so, why the devil do you call yourself a soldier?" "I am no Quaker," Colonel John answered, "but I do not fight duels." "Why?" "If I killed you," the Colonel replied, eyeing him steadily, "would it dry my neckcloth or clean my face?" "No!" Payton retorted with a sneer, "but it would clean your honour!"
He had felt the reprehension in the air, he had been conscious for a few seconds that he had not the room with him; but the perception made him only the more arrogant now that he felt his feet again. "It would prove, man, that, unlike the beasts that perish, you valued something more than your life!" "I do." "What?" Payton asked with careless disdain. "Among other things, my duty."
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